A handful of major environmental bills remain in limbo as the S.C. General Assembly goes into its final week of the year.

The fate of bills that would loosen wetlands protections, relax rules on factory chicken farms and ease water pollution test requirements for industry will be decided by the end of the legislative session Thursday.

Legislators also must determine the outcome of a bill championed by Attorney General Henry McMaster that would make it easier to prosecute criminal polluters. McMaster spokesman Trey Walker said Friday a deal is in the works to get the bill approved.

Environmentalists say business groups have been particularly forceful this spring in their push to pass laws favorable to industry and to stop the polluter prosecution bill.

Most of the bills at issue were introduced last year, and any that don’t pass by Thursday must be reintroduced next year to begin the long legislative process again. Some have been before the legislature in different versions for years.

“It’s been a bloody year for us environmentalists,” the Sierra Club’s Bob Guild said.

Business organizations and some lawmakers say they’re looking for reasonable regulations that don’t unduly burden people.

State Rep. W.D. “Billy” Witherspoon, who represents part of the booming Myrtle Beach area, has been at the forefront of many battles, particularly on wetlands.

One bill would begin a permitting program for isolated wetlands, which are soggy depressions such as Carolina Bays not directly linked to rivers or streams.

“This is needed by development and real estate people,” said Witherspoon, R-Horry. “A lot of it is property rights. Nobody in the development community would disagree with this bill.”

Isolated wetlands cleanse polluted stormwater, control flooding and harbor an array of wildlife, such as salamanders, birds and frogs. The state has more than 300,000 acres of isolated bogs, mostly on the coast. Wetlands often spark disputes between developers and environmentalists because the watery depressions can get in the way of construction projects.

A 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling made it more difficult for the federal government to regulate wetlands. So the state has been trying to enact rules to restore some of the protections.

But the proposed regulations have sparked heated disputes, with some environmental groups charging that the bill will make it even harder to protect the bogs.

Backed by real-estate developers and home builders, the bill focuses on regulating only large isolated wetlands. Smaller ones could be filled without state permission. The original version of the bill said only isolated wetlands larger than 5 acres needed permits.

The bill also exempts the S.C. Department of Transportation, which often fills vast wetland acreage while building roads.

One version of the bill says the state must issue an isolated wetlands permit if property would have no economic value without the permit.

The measure is expected to come up for a vote in the House on Tuesday.

Opponents of the legislation include the S.C. Coastal Conservation League, the S.C. Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, the state’s chief wetlands regulatory agency.

Wetlands, however, aren’t the only unresolved issue:

• Supporters of the poultry industry are pushing an amendment that would free large animal farms from environmental regulations by local governments. The amendment is attached to a bill that received some debate in the Senate two weeks ago, and should come up Tuesday.

Poultry interests have been trying since 1995 to get the bill passed, but legislators have been reluctant to do so because it could mean fewer restrictions on polluting, factory-style hog farms. The proposal does not restrict counties from regulating hog farms.

• A bill to drop certain water pollution tests for the state’s major industries and sewer systems appears on track to pass the Legislature. That bill, backed by the S.C. Manufacturers Alliance, would eliminate a test that relies on flea-reproduction rates to determine if a company’s wastewater is too toxic to pump into a river.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the test is a proven method for looking for pollution. The agency has threatened to begin denying pollution discharge permits for industry if the Legislature passes the bill.

• A bill to extend state grand jury authority to cover environmental crimes might go down to the wire. A deal in the works gives the bill a “glimmer of hope,” Walker said. Opponents of the bill were negotiating to drop their objections in exchange for Senate passage of a tort reform bill, he said.

While the federal government has made some high-profile criminal cases against polluters, McMaster said the state could do more with grand jury powers. The statewide grand jury would be able to subpoena records and force testimony.

McMaster and state Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, say the S.C. Chamber of Commerce’s opposition to the bill would allow companies that willfully pollute the environment to escape prosecution. The chamber has expressed concern that it would allow overzealous prosecution of law-abiding companies.

Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537 or sfretwell@thestate.com.